A panoramic exploration of how math educators can recognize and disrupt systemic inequities in their classrooms Racial, gender, and socioeconomic disparities are prevalent in mathematics. This is, in part, due to processes that invisibly, yet unmistakably shape students' classroom experiences, like entrenched systems of power, deficit perspectives, other dominant norms, and narratives that contribute to an all-too common student refrain: "I'm just not good at math." In Noticing What Matters, the editors and contributors examine these inequities and discuss how educators can create classrooms that center students' unique assets and identities as math learners. This book contains a collection of essays written by mathematics teachers, community youth leaders and activists, university researchers, and teacher educators who collaborated to study how injustice is perpetuated in mathematics classrooms. The volume centers perspectives of community youth educators who worked closely with BIPOC youth. Chapters highlight how educators learned to "notice for equity," a practice that encourages teachers to identify and challenge deficit narratives and harmful school practices that play out during moments of instruction. The editors and contributors explore what it means to notice race and power in math classrooms, how one's positionality shapes the way one attends to these processes, and how educators can take action based on what they've noticed. In addition, they offer a model of professional learning that teacher educators, professional development leaders, and mathematics teachers can use to bring mathematics educators in conversation with members of the community they serve to disrupt longstanding, persistent inequitable mathematics practices. This volume will provide teacher educators and practicing teachers with a clear picture of what noticing for equity looks like in math classrooms, and how they can form learning communities to practice and promote this approach.
